Passenger vehicles often include electric batteries for operating features of a vehicle's electrical and drivetrain systems. For example, in a hybrid-electric vehicle (“HEV”), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (“PHEV”), a fuel cell electric vehicle (“FCEV”), or a purely electric vehicle (“EV”), an energy storage system (“ESS”) (e.g., a rechargeable ESS) may be used to power electric drivetrain components of the vehicle (e.g., electric drive motors and the like). The ESS may store high-voltage electrical energy, which may be transmitted to vehicle systems via a high-voltage (“HV”) bus having positive and negative conductors or rails. The ESS may be selectively coupled to the positive and negative conductors or rails via one or more selectively switched electric contactors.
An ESS may be associated with a manual service disconnect (“MSD”). In some ESS systems, the MSD may be located at or near a midpoint of the ESS voltage (e.g., at or near a midpoint voltage of a cell stack of an associated battery system). When removed from an associated receptacle, the MSD may physically interrupt certain HV lines internal to the ESS, which may disable the ESS.
The MSD may include a fuse that may have an associated service life. With improvements in vehicle and/or ESS performance, the service life of a fuse included in a MSD associated with the vehicle's ESS may be affected. These effects on the service life of the fuse, however, may be difficult to accurately predict with conventional methods.